


He Goes Home

by RegretfulCatSnake



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, BAMF Pepper Potts, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Character Death Fix, F/M, Fix-It, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I mean very light, Light Angst, Pepperony - Freeform, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Whump, ily3k
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-26
Updated: 2019-07-23
Packaged: 2020-05-20 08:58:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 18,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19373449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RegretfulCatSnake/pseuds/RegretfulCatSnake
Summary: He took a breath. With that one pathetic sound the ground beneath her feet came back into focus. The smells of smoke and fresh dirt and burned flesh and oh god that was Tony. She saw Rhodey the exact moment his expression changed from resignation to a confusion they’ve only just begun to experience over the past decade. Please. Help him please. He was breathing, barely, and in so much pain it made her heart hurt more than she thought possible. She heard a woman talk of taking him to Wakanda, while Bruce mentioned finding Dr. Cho, and Pepper put her foot down.Stubborn bastard Tony Stark survives.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi I run a certain Tony Stark ask blog on tumblr and this is all canon for that. Said I'd just make a post about it but whoops 12k+ words later you know how that goes.

In her decades of knowing Tony Stark, _the_ Tony Stark, Pepper had experienced so many simultaneous emotions because of this man she was convinced it actually gave her whiplash. But this one, clear cut, took the cake. When she pulled away from that kiss the world faded away. She heard voices like they were through a mile of water and anything not in front of her turned into a blur she couldn’t have described if her life depended on it. What felt like hours later she was convinced he was gone and finally, _finally_ allowed herself a sob only to have it catch in her throat.

He took a breath.

It sounded like a fish’s attempt at what a human breath sounded like but as much as it should have unnerved her the sob turned into one of relief. The ground beneath her feet came back into focus. The smells of smoke and fresh dirt and burned flesh and oh god that was Tony. She saw Rhodey the exact moment his expression changed from resignation to a confusion they’ve only just begun to experience over the past decade, which prompted a look around.

The man in the cape, glowing green up to his elbows, that had to have been the doctor Tony had mentioned. ‘Pulled off the graying sides thing better than anyone should,’ he’d told her one day over dinner, long before Morgan was in the picture. “I need hands!” he yelled, stony determination not leaving his face despite the shout.

Another breath. Pepper rose to her feet and took a step back. “What are you-?”

“Trying to save his life, I’ll explain when things aren’t so grim,” Strange said, not taking his eyes off of Tony for even an instant. Parker, that poor kid, was talking a mile a minute. Unable to keep up with what he was saying, all Pepper noticed was that he failed to hold back tears himself.

People gathered. Brief, rushed conversations were had. Pepper found herself pleading whenever people looked to her. Please. Help him please. He was breathing, barely, and in so much pain it made her heart hurt more than she thought possible. She heard a woman talk of taking him to Wakanda, while Bruce mentioned finding Dr. Cho, and Pepper put her foot down. “Save him.” Despite the tears running down her face this wasn’t a request, it was an order. “Get him out of here, help him.”

The queen had spoken, the scene sprang to life. More portals opened, and after a brief argument about who should carry Tony the doctor won out, insisting his cape could carry her husband with the least risk of jostling things too much. She sprinted after his new dedicated team of caretakers, dirt turning to pristine tile floor under her feet as she stepped through another portal. He was placed on a stretcher and raced down halls, every ragged breath felt like it was forcing Pepper’s own heart to work. FRIDAY had enough of a read on the situation to start detaching parts of the suit, pieces falling to the floor with a clatter that left a breadcrumb trail to their owner.

Vitals were recorded, IVs were placed, and though they weren’t in English Pepper knew a yelled curse word when she heard one. Only when he was rushed into an operating room, a place they requested she not follow, Pepper allowed herself to break down. She nodded as the door closed but fell to her knees an instant later. The sobs shook her body so hard she thought she might never be still again.

 

A mortified silence permeated every nook of the makeshift waiting room. Chairs had been dragged in from elsewhere, and an ever rotating cast filled them. Pepper was pale, still as the grave as she sat. She stared at a tile several feet in front of her, the last of her tears having long since dried on her face. Every time the urge arose she stifled a sob as nothing left her eyes.  
Rhodey stood vigil with her. Some time in, he handed her a hastily made sandwich and Pepper realized not only was she so hungry she could throw up, but she was still in the armor. Metal fingers grabbed the bread and she sobbed again. She hated herself for how often that was happening. Rhodey helped her out of the suit, even supplying a hand to hold for the short step down from the boots. She gave him a long look as he handed the sandwich back and found his eyes as red as hers, even as the hours entered the double digits.

Over that time, others arrived. Bruce was frequent, spending half an hour in an armless chair with the two whenever he got the chance. He offered water and reassurances that never rose above a whisper. Nebula was just as frequent, though she never ventured beyond a door frame. Pepper pretended to not notice her arrive.

Parker stayed with them for the first hour, before she suggested he see his aunt and escape the oppressive dread of the room. He’d spent the whole time wailing and grabbing onto her, as desperate for comfort as she was. She’d called Happy immediately after he left with the update she was always terrified to give. Instructions for an extended sleepover with uncle Happy followed, Morgan didn’t need that news right now.

The rest of the core team, what was left of them, were frequent and consoling. She caught fits of sleep while Clint and Thor were present. Steve sat at the other end of the room and gave her such apologetic looks just thinking about them drove her to tears again. Words of encouragement, food and water, offers to take shifts. But she couldn’t leave, not when she had no idea if she’d ever hear that voice again. If someone wanted her to leave, they’d have to force her away. Pepper almost wanted to see someone try.

Twenty-two of the slowest hours in human existence later, Strange emerged. He walked like a coat hanger was keeping him on his feet, eyes sunken with an expression impossible to read. She covered her mouth with her hands, a desperate attempt to keep herself from throwing up from the stress.

“He’s stable.”

The long suffering wife of Anthony Stark sprang to her feet and wrapped the doctor in a hug so tight it could have crushed him. She cried so hard her voice turned hoarse. “Thank you,” she said between sobs. “Thank you, thank you, thank you, all of you.” She didn’t sound like herself.

“The surgical team is exhausted, so though I didn’t assist directly I offered to give you the update and let them sleep. I kept him in a localized time loop,” Strange said, not even shifting under her hug, “Repeating and rewinding from just after the snap to right before he would die, while we worked out how to save him.” A pause, and Pepper could feel his breath catch in his lungs. “Mrs. Stark I’ve been in medicine for decades and this is the most guarded prognosis I’ve ever had to give.”

“Can I see him?” She asked, having finally loosened the hug.

“Of course.” There wasn’t a moment of hesitation. “But I will warn you it is not good.”

 

Pepper heard the ventilator force air into her husband’s lungs long before the door was opened to go see him. The sight of his right arm, which stopped halfway below the elbow now, covered in bandages and held in the air made her sob once again. Dressings on the right side of his face continued down his neck and disappeared below a hospital gown. Wires were dragged from his chest to machines behind him, and she counted no less than three IV lines into his chest, arm, and hand. More tubes drained into containers on the floor, and Pepper understood why they wanted her to wear gloves and a mask to see him.  
She stepped into that room amidst the beeping and whirring machines like her steps might kill him. “Tony?” She said as Strange closed the door leaving them alone. Two steps in the small room to reach his left side, where she held his hand in hers. Pepper jumped as a cuff on his arm sprang to life, taking his blood pressure. A part of her could have almost found the rhythmic noises of the machines soothing if they weren’t the only things keeping her husband alive.

“Tony I’m here.” She’d been by his unconscious side many times, but this carried a weight to it she wasn’t sure she could hold. “We’re okay. Everyone is okay, you did it.” She was crying again, tears she didn’t know she still had rolling down her cheeks. He must be in so much pain, she should have just let him go gracefully instead of this prolonged suffering with no guarantee he’d make it through the night let alone wake up.

But he was nothing if not stubborn, he’d want her to at least try.

She ran a hand through his hair, focusing on anything but the tube jammed down his throat and the shaved spot where they cleaned some of his burns. Compared to the hours she waited, her five minutes of visitation were up in a heartbeat. She composed herself and left the room when asked. Most of the front of the room was a single window, with chairs against the wall Pepper took a seat in.

Strange wasted no time in explaining things to her. The hand crumbled to ash when they removed the suit from it. Some of the burns on his arm went down to the bone, which they had to run rods through to repair the breaks. His right clavicle and scapula broke, so did some ribs. Organs bruised and lacerated, both lungs collapsed, his diaphragm tore away partially. A major vein tore and could have led to death in less than a minute. “But the body is a miraculous thing, Pepper. People can recover from things you wouldn’t think possible. If he makes it through the next twenty-four hours, odds are good he’ll survive.” As he explained how they’d reached this point, microsurgery and stem cells and gene therapy and the best minds on the planet, all things she’d be fascinated by in better circumstances, she noticed his hands shook.

 

He was kind enough to create a portal for Happy and Morgan to join her. It was the worst reunion she’d ever had in her life, but decided to save the hard talk for after they’d gotten settled in a room. The Wakandans were showing so much hospitality already it nearly moved her to tears. Happy brought some toys for her, playsets, art supplies, and a stuffed dog she was a big fan of lately. In a whisper as Morgan explored their temporary home, Pepper told him to get the details from Rhodey. He’d taken the next visitation period, five minutes on every hour.

“Sweetie, can you come here?” Pepper asked, patting a spot next to her as she sat on one of the beds.

“Okay!” Morgan ran to her side from where she was investigating their closet. “Mommy there’s a TV in the mirror in the bathroom!”

She couldn’t cry, not right now, not in front of her. This child was so full of love, she shouldn’t have to go through this. Morgan hopped up onto the bed, and Pepper tried to draw out the moment before she broke the news for as long as possible. The poor kid didn’t need this, she should be at home playing in the lake with her dad and now every fiber of that was threatened because of something that happened before she was even born. “Sweetheart, daddy helped a lot of people, but he’s very sick, so we’re going to stay here while the doctors help him.”

And just like that, it was done. Morgan Stark absorbed this information with a solemn expression as she shifted on the bed. She sat in silence for a moment, her gaze fixed on her hands in her lap. “Is daddy going to die?” If she’d said it any softer Pepper would have doubted she heard the words right.

It hit her like a semi on the interstate. It took Pepper a few moments to remember the frog she’d found months ago dead in their yard and Tony’s amazing way he explained that to her. A few of her shows had very mild episodes about dealing with death, which certainly furthered her understanding of it, but she was so young and lucky enough to have no direct experience she couldn’t possibly comprehend the weight of what she’d just said. “No, no, of course not honey.”

“It’s sad but okay if he does,” Morgan said, hugging her mom around the waist. “He’ll always be with us.”

Pepper placed a hand on her daughter’s shoulder, trying once again to avoid crying. Here her child was, more willing to let Tony slip away than she was, even if that acceptance was just a parroted line from TV. “Of course he will be.” All of the strength in her body went into making her reassurance sound believable for her child.

She debated long and hard about whether or not to let Morgan see her father. He might not make it, yes, and she deserved a chance to say goodbye if that were the case, but she would hate to have her child’s last view of her father be a man barely alive. With a heavy heart she decided against it, opting to let Morgan play and be a kid while she returned to her watch.

 

One-hundred-twenty minutes out of every day was not nearly enough. Five minutes in, offering whatever comfort and support she possibly could to an unconscious man, fifty-five minutes out, waiting outside the room hoping for news. Sleep only ever came in bursts she felt awful about later. If he died, slipped away while she’d been asleep? That would be on her. Pepper remembered the stories, about how sometimes her voice had kept him hanging on, she wasn’t about to throw that kind of power away.

The transfusion had finished, that was just about the only good news after he survived that first night. His blood work was, phrasing it lightly, garbage. Red cell count was fine, but his other numbers were concerning at best and horrific at worst. Vitals were taken every fifteen minutes, blood ran every hour, Pepper threw up from the stress. The skin grafts on Tony’s arm failed to take. It was an optimistic effort certainly, every doctor told her that, but it left a bleaker picture than anyone wanted to see.  
“That arm is an astronomical infection risk,” one doctor told her, clearly trying to not let the weight of the situation get to him. “Even if we got circulation in it, we doubt it would ever be functional.”

“What do you recommend?” Pepper asked. She knew the answer already, but didn’t want to think about it.

“We take the arm.” Shuri, T’Challa’s sister and the brightest spark Pepper had ever seen, hit her guess on the head. “He’s fighting so hard to stay alive, any infection could ruin that.” People said that a lot, that he was fighting to stay with her. She wished they’d stop, it made this whole endeavor seem selfish. She told him he could rest, didn’t she?

The first time she saw him after the surgery, she cried like she hadn’t been for days. A stump of an arm remained, just a few inches off of the shoulder, covered in the distant hope the grafts would take this time. “I’m so sorry,” she told him, rubbing a gloved thumb over the back of his remaining hand. He had to be in so much pain, though the almost peaceful look on his face hadn’t changed in days. “Don’t stay for me,” a pause. “You don’t deserve this much hurting. You can rest, I mean that. If you want to go, go. We’ll all be okay, you deserve to be at peace.” Her timer went off a few seconds later, and Pepper left the room.

As she sat, she was flooded with images of Tony Stark, her husband, the father of her child, recovering but barely. Vegetative. Alive but not in there, not really. She hoped he understood what she’d said. Clinging to a life not worth living wasn’t worth it. Guilt punched her in the chest, was she really wishing for this man to die? Could she not stand the thought of him not being perfect. No, she didn’t want him to suffer, that was different. But where was the line for that? Bedbound forever? Constant pain? How much suffering was more than she wanted to see him take?

Fifty-five minutes later, she was shocked to discover he was still alive. She must have married the most stubborn, lovesick idiot in the galaxy.

 

A week after Tony snapped his fingers and saved the universe, Pepper finally got some good news. “He’s fighting the ventilator,” the always wonderful Doctor Helen Cho told her one morning. She’d just had her first shower in a week, and taken some time to play with Morgan in an effort to distract herself. Rhodey’d practically forced it on her, half dragging her away from Tony’s ICU room to do something for herself for a change. “The repairs we seeded are working, kidney and liver values are up.” Pepper gave her an expectant look. “But he’s still unconscious, yes. He wants to live, Pepper. I’ve seen people die from less. When they’re done they let go. He’s not.”

Even entering the room that hour left a bitter taste in her mouth. The wound drains were dwindling, but the occasional hitch in the regular mechanical whirring of the ventilator sent a lump into her throat. He was fighting to breathe on his own, yes, but she was so sick of seeing him fight. He was supposed to be done with that. Retired, relaxing, raising their daughter, not on a battlefield or clinging to life in a hospital halfway around the world from their home. Her visits were becoming routine. Say a few words, let him know everyone’s fine. Hand rubs, fingers in his hair, a shoulder squeeze. Hoping one way or another he gets the rest he’s earned while she stays awake, as if she was giving her sleep to him.

As she left the room, ready to continue her windowside watch, she was shocked to find Doctor Stephen Strange waiting for her. It took her a few moments to place the face, she never expected civilian clothes on him. “I’m sure you’ve been told he’s making a turn for the better,” he said, and Pepper set her jaw in anticipation. “He’ll get switched to breathing on his own over the next few days, if he cooperates with it. He’s fighting his way-”

“No. No. Everyone says he’s fighting to live and breathe and come back to me but I am done seeing him fight and suffer. He’s been fighting for one thing or another for years and I am so goddamn _sick_ of watching it!” A breath hitched in her throat. “You say he’s fighting but it’s all bullshit! None of you have any idea if he’s still in there! What is he _fighting_ for, doctor? Me to decide to take him off life support in a year instead of tomorrow?” She took a real breath and raised her hands to wipe away tears. “I- I am so sorry I didn’t-”

“No I owe you an apology, Mrs. Stark, I sent him to his death. I traded him for the stone on Titan so he could die at the right time. I saw this play out hundreds of times, and though the gauntlet passed through many hands Tony was the only one who ever went through with it. Again and again I’d hope it was someone who could take it better, that someone was close enough to share the load, but it never happened. So I apologize, Pepper. Both of you got five years of bliss on the condition this happened.” He paused, and that was the softest she’d seen Stephen’s face look since she met him. “But I never saw this far, after we’d clearly won. This is unknown territory for all of us, I can’t tell you if he lives let alone wakes up or talks but I will do everything in my power to right this. Whatever long lasting consequences this has for you and your family I take full responsibility for. I led him to this like a lamb to slaughter and I cannot apologize enough.”

Pepper shook her head. “You didn’t make him do any of this, no one did. None of this is your fault.”

For the time being, he seemed satisfied with that. “Thank you,” he said with a nod. He turned around a few steps away, though. “And Pepper? As a doctor I’m required to remind you to take care of yourself too. Sleep. Eat something. You wouldn’t want him to wake up to you like this.”

 

Despite a few hiccups, not four days later he was breathing on his own. The horrible looking breathing tube had been traded out for a set of nasal cannula, which Pepper couldn’t help but think looked much more comfortable. He had a feeding tube emerge from his nose to be taped to his cheek. A few visits ago, she’d been told they were reducing the sedatives to something that might allow him to wake up. His vitals were only being taken once every thirty minutes now, blood draws only twice a day. On one of them, the nurse reported Tony’s eyes opened. At her visit at three in the afternoon, Pepper noticed the same thing.  
Without even so much as a groan, Anthony Stark saw his wife’s face for the first time in nearly two weeks.

“Tony?” Pepper said, bringing herself to her feet to better meet his eyes. His gaze slowly panned around the room with none of its usual light, the small act seemed to suck all the energy out of his body. “Tony it’s me, I’m right here.” They locked eyes, Pepper feeling a smile tug at the corner of her lips before noticing there wasn’t even the faintest glint of recognition in his eyes.  
She tried again. “Tony? It’s Pepper, we’re okay we’re all okay, you did it. Everyone’s safe.” He didn’t even seem aware of her voice, and her tears fell onto his chest. “Tony please.” She rubbed circles onto the back of his hand, careful of the IV line taped in place there. “Look at me. Tony look at me please.” He did another sweep of the room, head not moving as his eyes sucked in everything and yet nothing at all. Confusion grew on his face before sleep took him again. Pepper spent the rest of her now ten minutes of hourly visitation crying.

Care was taken to wipe that from her face before passing the news along. “Tony opened his eyes.” The weight of the world fell off of Rhodey’s shoulders. “Tony opened his eyes.” Happy visibly slouched. “Tony opened his eyes.” Pepper heard Peter scream for his aunt over the phone. “Tony opened his eyes.” The team offered to fly out as soon as possible. “Daddy’s waking up.” Morgan’s jaw dropped.

“Really?” She yelled, with enthusiasm only possible at that age. “Can we see him? Mommy I want to see him!”

“He’s very sleepy,” Pepper explained to Morgan, now sitting on her lap. “So it might take a while before he’s ready to see you, but if you make him something I can give it to him.” Morgan dropped from the chair and ran to find her art supplies, determined to make him the best card the world had ever seen.

 

Tony had taken to groaning for nearly a day. All the doctors said it was normal, coming out of anesthetic can have that effect on people, but it didn’t make it less disturbing. Pepper watched a dressing change through the window, fresh bandages being placed on face, neck, chest, and what remained of his right arm. Though scarred, his skin looked better than Pepper could have ever hopped, and Dr. Cho was already in the process of printing him a new external ear after his right one was mangled from the burns. They checked his IV sites, fed him, and after everything was in order, invited Pepper in to see him.

As she sat down, she noticed he was getting a little color back. Not much, he was still much grayer than a person ever should be, but every little thing that made him look more like himself helped Pepper get through a day. He opened his eyes and groaned as he looked side to side for a few seconds before going back to sleep. There was nothing behind those eyes but reflex, no thought as far as she could tell. Rhodey’d said that crushed him when he first saw it, now it was regular.

Pepper had taken to accepting she might just be filling space in that room. She held his hand, almost afraid he’d drift off if she wasn’t in contact with him, and let her mind wander. How long was she willing to keep this up? Every day waiting, sitting at the bedside of a man who might not even be in there anymore. It had been two weeks, fourteen days of missing Tony’s smile and laugh and the dumb way he talked to her when he was really enamored. If this was it, if this was as good as things would ever get, she almost wished he would have died.

They could have moved on, that way. They could be two weeks into recovery and rebuilding, not trapped in this limbo of wondering whether or not they’d ever hear his voice again. Not being filled with false hope. And she knew that wasn’t guaranteed, for all they knew he’d be able to function again just fine and all this worrying was for nothing but with no way to tell she thought the worst. A part of her knew they could handle that. She’d told him that much, hadn’t she? They’d be okay. And it would be shitty but they’d make it and be okay. Everyone would, eventually.

No, she had to stop this. Jumping to a worst case scenario that shifted daily. That was doing nothing for her mental health. He was waking up, his neural activity looked fine on scans, worrying when she couldn’t do anything was pointless. Morgan, however, was doing as great as she could be. There was a park nearby, and when Pepper couldn’t bear to stand watch anymore she’d bring her child there and spend a few hours watching her make friends and get to be a kid again. The new variety of bugs to find reignited that interest for her, Shuri even made a small identification guide for Morgan that she was practically glued to. Pepper made a note to pick up something like that when they got home, she really seemed to enjoy knowing what she found. She was sure Tony would like to know, too.

“Pep?”

It was hoarse and more of a wheeze than a word but Pepper knew that voice in any state and she cried from joy for the first time in recent memory. He was looking at her, really looking at her, eyes making contact with hers and that spark of recognition filling them to bursting. She sandwiched his hand between her own and leaned in. “It’s me Tony I’m here,” she whispered those words, not wanting to shock him. Her sobs had her shaking but she was smiling and everything would be okay. “I’m okay, Morgan’s okay, you did it we’re all fine.”

“What? Where?” He asked, she felt his fingers wiggle in her grasp.

“You killed Thanos, Bruce brought everyone back. You did it. You’re in a hospital in Wakanda they’ve been amazing to all of us.” The worry on his face eased, however slightly, before he opened his mouth again. “Don’t talk, save your strength, please.” Her tears were hitting the floor now, but Pepper couldn’t bear to pull a hand away from Tony’s to wipe them away. “I thought I lost you but you’re here and we’ll be okay.”

The suggestion of a smile hit his lips, the effort was clearly too much for now, but even still it lit up the room.

 

“Mo?”

This was the third time today she had to break his heart. “She’s safe, she’s here, but right now this will scare her and you know that.” Just yesterday she’d had a complete breakdown over not being able to see Tony. Every ounce of Pepper’s heart ached for both of them then, but she refused to traumatize her daughter with her barely alive let alone conscious father. Just a little more alert, a little less of that grimace of pain he was doing so well to hide. “Another day or two, you don’t want her to see you like this.” Tony glanced downward, a look she’d long since learned was resignation. “But I do have a present for you.”

“Real food?” Tony asked with a sad smile on his face. He’d been having too many issues swallowing to eat on his own. Something about the diaphragm injury messing with his esophagus.

“I’d argue it’s something better.” She pulled her purse onto her lap from the floor and pulled out the folded construction paper before she presented it to Tony. “She was so excited to make it.”

His arm moved in an attempt to grab the card, but it never left the bed. After a shush and a hand on his shoulder, Pepper moved the card into position to be read. “Get better daddy” was on the front in washable marker, miraculously spelled correctly. The inside featured a drawing of Pepper, Morgan, and Tony, and what was clearly an attempt to fit three-thousand little marker hearts on a yellow folded piece of craft paper.

“Do you need me to read it?” Pepper offered. She knew he could see, but seemed to have issues focusing sometimes. That, and getting the positioning correct was a shot in the dark at best.

“No,” Tony said with a deep smile right from the soul. Did something fall in his eyes? As soon as she saw him cry Pepper grabbed a tissue from the bedside table and kept his face dry. She propped the card up on the table, hopefully at an angle Tony could see it. “I love it.”

“I’m sure she’ll instantly start on a sequel once I tell her,” Pepper said. She mirrored his smile, and watched as his eyes snapped open every few seconds as his eyelids grew heavy with exhaustion. “You can go back to sleep, it’s okay,” Pepper said as she returned her hand to his, what felt like it’s default position these days. No one had directly told him visitation was limited for the time being, but he’d put two and two together fast enough.

He opened his eyes as wide as he could despite being drugged to the moon, clearly a protest against sleep. “You’re here.” Pepper had been told he hated waking up alone, not something that surprised her in the slightest, and to make matters worse he fought off sleep if someone was in the room with him. A total catch twenty-two, with Tony’s health at the center of it. He made eye contact and flashed her that sweet smile that made her feel like she was sixteen and full of girlish love again. “Doesn’t always happen.”

“I will be here, and continue to be here,” she said as she leaned in, “Until you get so desperate for some time away from your wife you’ll be ready to run out of here.” That got another smile, and she felt her cheeks flush. “I’m not going anywhere, rest.”  
“Whatever you say, Boss.” The moment Tony stopped trying to fend off sleep tooth and nail, he was out. Despite the burns and desperately needing a shave, he always looked so calm when he slept. The sight of it alone healed her.

 

Four AM, couldn’t sleep, so Pepper slipped out of her room where Morgan was still fast asleep. She grabbed her phone off the nightstand, closed the door with hardly a click, and walked off down the hall. She found a room designed for private phone calls, no sound slipped out from under the door, and after a deep breath she entered. Contacts app pulled up, she typed “FRI” into the search bar and dialed the AI back home. Instant answer, no ring.

“Is he still…?” She’d never heard her that hesitant before.

“Fine, FRIDAY. He’s awake and talking I just-” A pause as Pepper collected her thoughts. “Delete the footage.”

“Mrs. Stark?”

“I can’t let him watch that, please.” She couldn’t let herself watch it again, either, her husband aware and in pain and dying. “He doesn’t deserve to see that, if we’re lucky he won’t remember any of it.”

“He’ll notice it’s missing.”

“Then corrupt it. It was a localized radiation blast, right? Say that interrupted the download to your servers.” She couldn’t let her husband watch her say goodbye to him, no one should ever see that. Hearing the story is one thing but seeing it is another.  
“I can simulate a corruption for you. From all sources?”

“Iron Man, War Machine, Rescue, all of them. I just-” No she couldn’t cry again she’d been doing so well. “He can’t watch himself die FRIDAY please don’t let him go through that.”

“Of course, Mrs. Stark. Starting the process now.”

“You are the best.” The tears were mostly defeated for now. “I’ll keep texting you updates. And could- Could you keep just a little of the-”

“The dusting?”

“Yes. He should see himself win.” But she was not about to traumatize him all over again. “Thank you so much. This has to be a complete secret, no trail. Delete this conversation from records, too.”

“Already wiping the call log.”

Pepper allowed herself the tiniest little bounce in victory. “Perfect. I’ll call you with him the moment he’s up for it. Sometimes he forgets where he is and asks for you.” It was cute and also terribly pathetic.

“I think I’d like that.”

The call wound down, with Pepper giving a more optimistic update before a yawn had FRIDAY encouraging her to sleep again. When she got back to bed, Morgan hadn’t moved an inch.

 

Pepper wanted nothing more than to have a conversation with him, to hear his voice for hours on end and tell stories and get one facet of their lives back to normal. He wanted the same thing. She could tell, not just from decades of knowing him but from the frustration that washed over his face every time he struggled through the drugs to get out longer phrases. And that was as good as it got, many times it was one syllable words and exhausted facial expressions doing all the talking for him.

They got the go ahead to raise the back of Tony’s bed a few clicks that day, and even though he was too tired to get across many words the joy on his face was palpable. Though she couldn’t imagine how nice it must be to look at something other than the ceiling, she could imagine the terrible joke Tony would have made had he been in a better state. After a little thought, Pepper decided “Always looking up is overrated,” is what he’d have gone with.

He could see out the window to his room now, which was a much bigger change for Pepper than him. They both parroted thank yous as the nurse left, and in the silence that followed she watched him wrinkle his nose in discomfort at the tubes stuck in it. That, the catheters, the machines, it all had to be terribly uncomfortable. He’d be home and happy soon enough, she told herself. “Tomorrow,” Pepper said, “The doctors think you’ll be in great shape for a few hours of Morgan.”

Tony beamed that gorgeous smile she swore she’d be lost without. “Can’t wait.” As much as everyone knew it killed him, having set visiting hours was agreed to be the better option. He’d fight to stay awake just to see friends and family, time and energy he needed to spend resting and recovering. What a stubborn man. She watched him try to adjust himself, a futile attempt to sit up more, and right as she was about to stifle the effort she saw his face drop. “Can’t feel my arm.”

He tried to adjust again and Pepper stopped it with a hand on his shoulder. “Tony. Tony look at me.” His head turned and he looked her in the eye. “Don’t worry about it.” When he started rolling his head back to the right, Pepper stopped him with a gentle hand on his chin. “Honey please.” Pepper caught sight of the heart monitor, hooked up to Tony’s chest by electrodes stuck to his skin. His pulse quickened, even she could tell that.

“Can’t feel it. Pepper.” He was breathing faster, and despite her best efforts caught sight of his right side. An alarm sounded on a machine, then another. She’d seen this before, he’d seen what was left of his arm and was clearly having an attack.

It felt like hours passed, with Pepper trying her hardest to keep him grounded. At home it worked well, her or Morgan did well to remind him where he was and they never lasted long. Here, halfway around the world and having gotten so close to death he might as well have kissed her, Pepper wasn’t sure it was helping at all. Still she rubbed his hand and talked to him until a frantic doctor ran in, added something to one of Tony’s IV lines, and moments later he stilled. The alarms quieted just as Tony did. “Has he had a panic attack be-?”

Pepper nodded before he could even finish his sentence. “He saw the arm, I tried to distract him but-” She stopped herself just as the tears started up again. He had to find out eventually, she knew that, but she wished it was a nicer experience.

“He’s still in a delicate position,” she was told. “That much stress on him could set him back, or worse.” The implication there was very clear as the doctor put a hand on her shoulder, which did nothing to comfort her. “We’ve discussed continued mild sedatives with you before, has your opinion changed?”

Pepper, Rhodey, and Happy were confronted with a tough decision a few days ago. Due to Tony’s nature and the state he was in, accidental injury was not impossible. Either they strap him to the bed or keep him just drugged enough to be unable to hurt himself. Everyone agreed on option two, as much as it hurt. He’d hate it, but he’d hate the other option more, and this way he wouldn’t notice it immediately.

“Not at all,” She said, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. “Keep him safe, thank you.” Though Pepper reminded herself sometimes you had to be cruel to be kind, it didn’t make sleep any easier.


	2. Chapter 2

Tony Stark was starving.

Well, not really. But it felt like it. Something about the drugs and the damage made swallowing anything more than his own spit and a singular sip of water end very poorly, so they shoved everything in a tube up his nose. That was about as pleasant as expected. If he had the strength, he’d have killed for an actual bite of something. Strangled someone with his bare hands. Hand. Right. That’ll take getting used to.

He was freed from his thoughts by a pair of eyes and head of brown hair appearing in the corner of his window to the rest of the building. Tony flashed her a smile he was sure looked pathetic, but it was enough to send Morgan sprinting towards the door. He heard the latch open, followed by seeing a panicked Pepper sprint past the window to their kid.

How the hell did he get so lucky?

Once that door opened with functional adult supervision, Morgan raced to his bedside. “Daddy! Mommy told me you loved the first card so I made you another one!” She jumped as she handed him the card, bouncing up and down like an excited puppy. “I missed you so much mommy says we have to stay here for a while ‘cause you’re really sick when can we go home?”

That would have been hard to keep up with on a good day, let alone like this. Tony laughed, which hurt despite the drugs, and the look on Pepper’s face told him she knew. “C’mon get up here.”

“No no no no n-” Pepper stopped once Tony flashed her his most pathetic look. “Let me help you honey. Be very careful, alright?” She lifted Morgan onto the bed, who got settled lying down in the crook of his arm after she expertly dodged the tubes and wires. “You want to show him the card?”

Morgan hopped up enough to grab the card from her dad’s hand before lying down again. She rested her head on Tony’s shoulder, and held the card out like he and Pepper did when reading to her. “It says ‘Daddy you’re the best’ on the front.” Indeed it did. Blue paper this time, covered in dinosaur stickers. “And on the inside,” Morgan said as she opened her card, “It says ‘Never sleep that long again.’” Pepper rolled her eyes with a smile. “And I drew our house and a fishy and me making this card.”

“Very meta,” Tony said as he rested his head on hers. She’d gone with crayons and glitter glue this time, bold artistic choices. An extra body there wasn’t helping the pain, another spike fought past the medication and shot through him every time she moved. Which was a lot, because kids are wiggly, but he did his best to hide it from her.

She waved the card out for Pepper to take it, and once she did Morgan poked his nose with all the delicacy of a four-year-old. What a perfect kid. “What’s this do?”

“Helps me breathe.”

“And this one?” She shoved a finger into one of the electrodes stuck to his chest.

“Watches my heart.”

“And-” Morgan sat up and gave him a puzzled look with a surprising amount of intensity for a person that small. “Why are you so quiet daddy?”

“When you’re sick you need to sleep a lot,” Pepper said, and Tony had never been more relieved to not need to talk. “Some of the medicine makes him sleepy, too.”

Tony grumbled in agreement. “Love you.” A pause. “Both of you.” Another pause to collect his breath. “So much.” They talked for hours. Well, it was mostly Morgan, with Pepper clarifying and Tony mustering up the strength to contribute occasionally. She mentioned their room, and the cool portal trip over here, and how weird the bugs in the park were. Morgan Stark was so full of life and light Tony could practically feel it healing him.

Two hours of visitation turned into three, when Tony physically couldn’t keep his eyes open anymore and his additions to the conversation were mostly mumbles. When they agreed it was time to leave to let him sleep, Morgan planted a kiss on his cheek right before getting off the bed and it might as well have been a punch to the jaw for how fast it knocked him out.

 

Pepper wanted to spend the next morning making phone calls. Though she’d been texting updates, she seemed to think a call was the only appropriate way to say Tony was finally open to visitation outside of close friends and family. It took some convincing to include him, mostly with his best kicked puppy impression, but Tony was present and on speakerphone for every one. Sometimes they were on video, sometimes they weren’t, but Tony’s only request in the matter had been to make the Parker household last.

He could get trapped on the phone for hours with that kid and his aunt.

The phone barely even rang before May picked up. “Oh God Pepper, is everything alright? Is he oka-?”

“Hi.” It was a little drawn out, more medication at work he figured, but it answered her question. “Pete home? Get ‘im on the horn too.” Sitting up, talking for longer, any movement, to do anything it felt like he had to fight off everything they were pumping into him but it was better than being in more pain.

Pepper smiled. “We wanted to let you know-”

“Mr. Stark? Ms. Po- Stark. Missus. Right. Sorry. We were getting your messages about how he was doing and all the updates and stuff, is he okay? I mean he has to be sort of okay cause I just heard him but like okay okay? Not too bored or anything? But how could you be bored in Wakanda that’s so cool.” Tony looked to Pepper, she shared his smile. This kid was something else, truly. “-was only there for ten minutes but I thought it was an awesome place. How soon can I-?”

“Peter.” Pepper said, and there was silence on the other end of the call for a few moments.

“Right. Sorry.” Tony heard May laugh. “Could- Could I see him?”

“Of course, just one moment here,” Pepper said as she turned on the front camera and held her phone out enough to get them both in frame from the shoulders up. Over the course of the calls, Tony had gotten used to seeing a huge chunk of his face and neck covered and healing, but it didn’t make it any more fun to look at. Those would be some interesting scars. “We wanted to say Tony just got the go ahead to have people in outside of close family, so if you wanted to come in for a visit we could-”

“May? May! We gotta go! Please? When can we get over there?” Parker sounded like he was crying. Tony’s ear was untrained with that sort of thing, but he’d been getting to know the quiver in a voice trying to not let anyone know tears were falling. He really meant a lot to this kid, huh?

“Dr. Strange has offered to handle transportation arrangements if you’d rather not bother with a plane,” Pepper said. “Morgan would love to meet you.”

Tony heard the gasp on the other end. “I totally forgot you two have a kid now! Mr. Stark she’s the cutest thing it makes me want to die really I can’t wait to meet her. It’s like I took a nap and woke up and everything’s different I missed the wedding you’ve got a kid.” Peter paused, and Tony felt like he’d just spotted a blimp over midwestern America. “Thank you, Mr. Stark.”

“That was Banner.” He felt like he’d been thinking through fog for days, this string of conversations had only highlighted that fact. “Not me. Save it.” Tony was dead tired of getting thanked for something he didn’t do.

Pepper turned off the video and brought her phone back closer to them. “Well we can’t wait to see you two, but we should probably get going so someone over here can get back to bed.” Tony let out a sad little drawn out ‘no’ in response. “I’ll keep the updates coming.”

“Pepper, Tony, see you real soon.”

“Bye Mr. Stark! Bye Mrs. Po- So close! Stark! I’ll be by as soon as I can okay?”

After the chorus of goodbyes was finished on their end, Pepper hung up the call and set her phone down on the bedside table with a dramatic sigh. “That many calls has _me_ exhausted, I can’t imagine you.”

Tony shrugged as much as a drugged one armed guy could. “I get by.” It was the reactions when he piped in that kept him going for as long as he needed to. That, and most of the team got done in one call to Barton’s place. “Thinking’s hard.”

He’d told her that daily since he’d been able to talk again. “I’m sorry, honey.” Coming up with anything was like trying to do algebra through frosted glass. It was more frustrating than being this physically weak, which also wasn’t fun, but at least that alone wouldn’t make him feel so wrong. “It’s just the medication, it’ll go away soon.”

And that was the answer, every time. “Well tell ‘em to cut it.” Tony pouted a bit, something he didn’t think he still did. “Five minutes. Clear thought. Please.”

“I’m not telling them how to do their job. Especially when their job is get you back home as fast as possible.” She had a point, but he didn’t like it.

“I’ll do it.” With all the willpower in his exhausted, battered body, Tony moved his arm. He tried to bring his hand up to the bag hanging above him, but only succeeded in having his arm fall off the bed. Another try, just had to get to the valve.

“Tony. Tony please.” A pause as he tried again. “Tony you don’t even know if that one’s the sedatives.” Pepper grabbed his arm and placed it back on the bed and held his hand so he couldn’t try again.

He tried to not be pissed about that. She was right, though. He had another line into his arm and a third poking out near his collarbone, a one in three chance wasn’t going to cut it. “I wanna feel normal. Five minutes.”

She scooched her chair closer to the bed, without moving her hand from his. “Tony. We don’t want you to hurt yourself.” How obnoxious, he couldn’t do that. “They gave me two options. This, or keep you strapped to the bed.”

That was the most awake he’d felt in a while. “You told them to-?”

“Yes because it was either keep you sedated or _strap you to the bed_ which I figured you’d hate more.” He was still trying to not be angry as Pepper spoke. “Rhodey and Happy agreed.”

The next breath he took, Tony heard an alarm sound behind him. He was quickly learning that meant he had to calm down or it’d get done for him. A few slower breaths, a squeeze of Pepper’s hand, and it quieted. He watched Pepper flash a thumbs up to a concerned nurse outside. “Can you talk to people?”

She returned the squeeze. “I can see if they’re okay trying something else, yes. But I bet you start moving too fast and you’ll be right back to square one.” Tony grumbled and picked a tile on the ceiling to stare at. “If you’re awake enough to get annoyed at sedation you’re awake enough to not try to run out of the room. Hopefully. I’m sorry, I really am, but I’ll take you annoyed and safe any day of the week.”

Just because she had a point didn’t mean he was less frustrated about being held captive in his own body. “I love you Pepper.”  
“Do you now?”

“So much.”

“Uh-huh?”

“Let’s have more kids.” She laughed at that. “Not really cause the radiation damage. But you get it.” The thought totally counted when it came to kids, right?

 

Pepper was true to her word, just like usual. The next day he was switched over to a muscle relaxer, which still kept him pretty damn gooey, but at least he could think again. Which meant the serious conversations were starting, the ones about new normal. Tony knew they were coming, of course, but it didn’t make anything easier. “I cannot overstate how close you were to dying,” Shuri said with a small nod. “Stephen Strange is the only reason we had the time to get you stable, so you probably owe him a sandwich or something.”

Tony laughed, which hurt. “I’ll write that one down.” The more he talked to this kid the more he liked her. Sharp as a tack, funny, not afraid to throw her weight around, the future was in good hands.

“Don’t worry about that I’ll send you a summary PDF so you have no excuse to forget proper aftercare,” She said with a dismissive wave. Clever girl, though he’d still probably forget anyway. “But we’ve run the numbers, with all this on top of your earlier condition above a certain heart rate yours might just quit on you.” Pepper squeezed his hand, they both knew where this was going. “Medication will help, but that thing works too hard for too long you will die, Mr. Stark. Any continued active Iron Man use will kill you, which is a damn shame because I wanted you to airdrop me on the next big guy we beat up so I could shoot him right in the face.”

She softened the blow, for sure, and though he knew it was coming that still hurt. “I could always remote-”

“Absolutely not even a remote method would stress your heart out too much. I can take the loss of a cool stunt.” A pause. “Besides Colonel Rhodes is more than willing to help me out, right?”

Rhodey just laughed. Tony knew that laugh, it was the ‘Tony’s doing something dumb but I like watching it’ laugh.

“You know how some things have signs that say don’t do this thing if you’re pregnant or have heart issues?” She asked, Tony nodded. “That’s you now.”

Tony gasped. “I’m pregnant?” They weren’t supposed to have more kids, who would tell Morgan?

“Honey. She means the heart thing. You can’t be pregnant, remember?”

“Right.” He couldn’t get pregnant. That was Pepper. What an amazing woman. Wow he got lucky with her. He must be on way more pain meds than he thought. “Continue, you genius kid you.”

Even Tony could tell she was not expecting that compliment. “Aside from a low physical exertion lifestyle, you can probably live pretty normally. We’ve done scar care since we knew you’d make it, the burns are looking as good as magical radiation burns can, so all that’s left is getting you moving again.”

“Lots of physical therapy?” Happy asked, a subtle dread in his voice that struck a chord in Tony.

“Lots. And getting well acquainted with a wheelchair because you need to get your ass out of that bed if you ever want to function again. No more freeloading Mr. Stark.” Shuri smiled in that pause. “Plus you should see some of this country, I’d love to have The Tony Stark in my lab and show him a thing or two.”

“Two things, on that,” Tony said. He would have held up two fingers, but one hand was occupied with Pepper and the other was MIA. “One, could we find things to do for Morgan? She’s a perfect, wonderful kid and I don’t want her to be bored and sad all the time here.” Just thinking about her brought him to the edge of tears here gosh what a kid.

“We have a preschool equivalent, playgroups, and I’d be happy to personally show her around.”

Rhodey laughed. “She’ll lose her mind when she finds out you’re an actual princess.”

“I intend to play that card very carefully.” Shuri put a lot of thought into those words. “And the second thing?”

“A prosthetic.” No one seemed surprised by him bringing that up. “I could make one myself but I’d _love_ the opportunity to do a colab project with you.”

“Perfect because I’ve had designs in mind the _moment_ I knew how much of that arm we could save,” Shuri messed with her bracelet and started swiping through schematics. Tony laughed, but absorbed as much detail as he could. “What? I couldn’t resist I know you’re the same way, great minds always are.” She paused on one particular display. “I’ve been wanting to do something chromatophore-inspired for ages this would be a perfect chance to try it out!”

Happy cleared his throat, the universal sign for the manic geniuses in the room to get back on topic, and Shuri put away her displays for another time. “Right. We can always go into more detail later, but that’s the immediate stuff. There’ll be a universal monitor band we can get on you shortly, do away with most of the equipment in here, and finally get you out of this room. Your child will get plenty to do, and you’ll get the coolest robot arm on the planet I swear it.”

With a promise like that, how could he not believe her? “Thank you,” Tony said. “And pass that to everyone who worked on me and every doctor you called and every nurse who so much as looked at me I owe you all my life.”

“It’s the least we could do, now I should leave before I spend hours in here talking shop with you and your friends drag me out.”

 

With getting out of bed looming on the horizon, Pepper had brought a few pairs of sweatpants and Tony felt like a human again. The universal monitor Shuri had talked about was even simpler than he’d expected, strapped to his wrist just like one of those fitness trackers and kept everyone up to date on his vitals with none of the clumsy wires. First time in the chair had been horrible, he could move well enough but not with enough strength to accomplish anything and had to be positioned into it by Rhodey and some nurses.

The humiliation would have been bearable, if he’d been in a state to use a motorized chair. Everyone promised it would only be a few days at most, but one lap around that floor of the hospital had been more than enough of getting pushed around. Tony tried to avoid complaining. The company on the trip was great and he was lucky to be alive and finally getting out of that room was amazing, he had to remind himself the drugs were making him more annoyed than he actually was, but it didn’t mean he enjoyed relying on Rhodey or Happy or Pepper to get around.

All in all it had been a nice walk. Well, ride. He’d hated trying to talk to someone behind him through IV bags hanging off the chair, so they eventually parked him in front of the first outside facing window he’d seen in weeks. Pepper mentioned the park she’d been taking Morgan to while he took in the view. What a place. Tony wished his time in Wakanda was spent talking shop and experiencing things like Morgan was, but he supposed that could wait. It wasn’t like it was going anywhere.

Which was great, because he was getting tired and needed to get back to bed and there’d be other sunsets to watch later. Just as he was about to start getting maneuvered into bed, there was a familiar face at the door. That familiar face broke into a heart-wrenching sob, sprinted at him, and got Tony in a hug so tight but so needed that he figured the knife-twisting pain was worth it. “Hey, Pete.” He returned the hug with a strength that left him disappointed. “Hey, hey. Sorry I scared you.” The sobbing slowed, and Tony gave Parker a few pats on the back. “That stunt is exactly what I meant by ‘Don’t do anything I’d do,’ by the way. Just in case you still need reference points.”

The laugh worked its magic, and Peter wiped his eyes after he backed out of the hug. “I thought you-” _Died._ It went unsaid but was easy enough to fill in. “I thought I lost you too.” This poor kid had been to too many funerals already at that age, Tony’d be damned if he added one more to that list. “Are you okay? I mean, are you gonna be okay? Obviously you’re not okay now if you were you wouldn’t be here.”

“Aside from the missing arm I’d say so.” He was glad he tossed a hoodie over his shoulders, less to hit Parker with at once. For the same reason he’d wait on the forced retirement conversation. He shot a glance to May in the doorway, who gave him a little wave. Their talk was put on pause for a few minutes as Tony got back into bed, the relief when his head hit the pillow was palpable. “So what about you? Not coughing up dust or anything weird?”

“We’ll leave you to it,” Pepper whispered into his ear with a shoulder pat before everyone but the kid vacated the room.  
“Oh. Okay,” Peter said once the door closed. “No I’ve been fine! I was kinda thinking things would be weird after I heard what happened and all but no one’s had anything like that going on.” He stopped and looked at his fidgeting hands for a moment. “What do you remember about the fight?”

That changed on a daily basis. More popped back into his memory here and there but he’d resigned himself to not remembering most of it. Probably for the better, it hurt like hell now in the moment it would have been horrific. “Seeing you, of course. And Pep in armor.” He could stand to see that way more often. “Stuff burning. Some lady on a horse, not positive that one was real.” Parker’s look told him it was. “Then it’s just a lot of pain until waking up enough to talk here.”

“So you don’t remember what you said?” Peter asked and he straightened up in his chair.

“I got nothing.”

“Mr. Stark it was so cool! That Thanos guy got the gauntlet and was all ‘I am inevitable’ and when nothing happened you were like ‘And I am Iron Man’ and turned him and all his guys to dust it was the most amazing thing I’d ever seen!”

“Sounds like something I’d do.” A terrible one-liner before basically dying, Tony couldn’t have come up with something more _him_ if he tried.

“It was awesome! And this raccoon was there and a tree-guy! And _Thor_ Mr. Stark I got to meet Thor! I got to help Pepper and Captain Marvel and it was super scary but also like a lot of fun?” God he’d missed this kid. 

The previous day brought another, minor surgery. The IV line into his chest was removed, as well as the feeding tube, finally. That first night of actual food had his eyes rolling back, even if dinner’d just been yogurt and applesauce. They’d fixed his ear, too. He’d never gotten to see it pre-repair but knew the replacement was miles better. Some parts had been completely replaced with a print by Dr. Cho, which was always cool to talk to her about. 

Tony held the mirror as Cho pointed at parts of his ear with a gloved finger. “The surgical scars will diminish with time, of course, but I’m not sure we can do much more for the burns. If the color doesn’t match I can recommend you to a medical tattoo artist to blend it better.” 

The ear was gnarlier than the left, but looked fantastic. Every time he looked at his reflection in a review or dressing change, he had to remind himself of the positives. Functionality was there. His skin could stretch and move almost as well as before, he had the doctors preventative scar care to thank for that, but the burned areas had taken on a redder color than the rest of him. Okay, fine. So maybe he wasn’t objectively pretty anymore? He was alive and Pepper said she sort of liked the battle scarred look on him anyway. He could live with a red cheek and new ear. 

Tony was married, he didn’t need to make sexiest man alive lists anymore anyway. 

“Thank you, for all of this.” It sounded way more sincere than it should have, he had a reputation to maintain after all. “You’ve saved my family a whole lot of heartache.” 

“Tony Stark is a huge sap, who knew?” She started to apply new bandages to his face, and Tony lowered the mirror. “I’ll take another look at it tomorrow, but it’s doing good.” She stood up, and offered a hand to shake before realizing her mistake and wordlessly lowering it again. 

He waved as she left, but it didn’t take long for someone else to come in. A knock on the door, something not many people did before barging in, and there was Doctor Stephen Strange looking very un-doctor like. “I figured I owe you an explanation.”  
“On about seventy-five different fronts, yes.” Tony shifted in bed, tried to straighten up a little. Sure, he still couldn’t walk without face planting but this guy didn’t need to know that. “One.” He held up a finger, then pointed it at Strange. “You saved my life. What did you do?” 

“You were in a time loop.” The doctor walked over to a chair in the room and put his hand on the back of it. “About two minutes played forwards and backwards for hours until we worked out how to get you stable. I’ve done similar things with the time stone before.” 

“You Groundhog Day’d me?” 

“More like playing and rewinding a scene in a movie.” 

“Why not just bring me back to before I pulled off that stunt?” 

“It would have undone it.” He paused to take a look at his hand on the chair. “If that was even possible, otherwise it’d be unable to go past its last use.” 

That made sense. Well, as much sense as something like that could. Just as he was getting used to aliens time travel gets thrown into the mix. “And we won, right? This is that one-in-fourteen-million-” 

“Fourteen-million-six-hundred and five.” 

Tony wordlessly stared at him for a moment. “Whatever, asshole. This is the one we win?” 

>“Everyone is alive, so yes.” No, not everyone. “I only looked for scenarios we won, time was short I neglected to see if you lived.”  
“So this is unscripted?” 

“Just like your press conferences, yes.” Strange sat down, finally. “Again and again I hoped someone else might use the gauntlet, someone who could take it better, but that never happened. It was only you.” Another pause, clearly to build up to saying something. “What did it feel like? The power of the universe at your beck and call?” 

“It hurt like a bitch.” The impossible had happened, his surgery in Afghanistan all those years ago was no longer the most painful thing that ever happened to him. 

Two extra chairs had been dragged into the room, but somehow it felt more empty knowing just what was missing. “Is this what Lang feels like?” Clint said after a few moments. “You three are huge. Stark, come on, you feeling this too?” 

“Oh I am. Robert Bruce Banner you average-sized guy traitor. I get it there’s a lot of pressure to be buff here but come on.”  
“Yeah, yeah, you’re just mad you can’t substitute inner peace for a workout.” Tony laughed, then eyed his sling with a pang of jealousy. He tore his eyes away from it. 

Thor smiled along with the joke. “I really have missed this, talking with you all when the fate of all of existence isn’t at stake. Really puts a damper on your mood.” 

Steve snapped back to reality with a shake of his head. “We really pulled that off, didn’t we?”<

“It’s just setting in for you?” Tony asked. “Really? I’ve been in the hospital for a month, what’s your excuse?” 

Rogers shrugged. “I’ve just honestly not been paying attention.” 

They went on for hours, talking like group of college buddies getting together for the first time since undergrad. It felt like home, something he hadn’t felt with these guys in a damn long time which was such a shame since they were great company. Romanoff would have been happy. Barton filled up some cups from the water cooler in the hall and they did a symbolic shot for her. It felt good but left the mood in desperate need of lightening. 

“You heard this has me done, right?” That was not the way to make things happy again. 

“We heard,” Bruce said. 

“Think we all sort of are,” Clint added on. 

Tony nodded in agreement. “Sure but I get the honorable discharge.” 

“I recall you telling me we weren’t soldiers,” Steve said, “What happened to that?” 

“Hell if I know.” They all had to be done, after that. Tony had a kid, Clint had three. Bruce had a screwed up arm and Thor was coming off a nasty depressive episode. That only left Steve with maybe a little Avenging still left in him, but Tony knew the guy was fast approaching burnout. In that moment it really did feel like eleven years since they all met. “I hate to talk shop but this has been nagging at me, anyone vaporize the stones yet?” 

“They are in Wakanda,” Thor said, “Under heavy guard until we decide how we want to bring them back.” 

“I can help with-” 

Bruce wasted no time cutting him off. “No you’re staying here and recovering and doing exactly what the doctors tell you to do, which I’m pretty sure doesn’t include sorting that out.” A pause. “Sorry I- You’ve done enough, we’ll get it handled.”  
Tony couldn’t argue with that. Well he could but this wasn’t the time or place. “I’m still serious about you guys coming over for dinner whenever you want, by the way. I’ve got a really cute kid, maybe you heard about that?” 

The surge of visitors and gifts was nothing short of a deluge. Flowers and cards were on nearly every surface, which did wonders to drown out the antiseptic smell hospitals always had, and just when he thought the bottom of the visitor barrel had been reached Maximoff and Barnes of all people showed up. There was a lot of work to be done to clear the air with those two, but they made the first step and Tony’d be damned if he didn’t try and match that effort. 

Family came first, though, so when he asked about that park on campus Morgan loved and didn’t get a no? Well, he couldn’t pass that chance up. Tony could get around himself, either through small steps in the chair or making use of the motor, but Pepper insisted on handling that for him. It didn’t take much arguing to convince him it wasn’t worth fighting over. She was probably just thrilled he’s alive and wanted to look after him a little more than usual, Tony figured there was no harm in that for the time being. 

He’d been freed from all the equipment save a drip for the pain, and even that was on the way out to switch him to oral medication and maybe, finally, get him home. The company was good in the meantime, though, which is what counted. Morgan practically bounced the whole trip to the doors on the ground floor, but waited around to press the button and let Tony and Pep though. 

Somehow she really had managed to get the best parts of both of them. 

It was much less humid than Tony expected, and direct sunlight on him was not something he expected to miss that much. Pepper parked him by a bench, and sat down next to him before wrapping his hand in hers. Morgan prattled off more stories about her tours with Shuri, and just after saying how badly she wanted them to meet her rhino friends one of the human variety arrived and she was off playing like a normal kid again. That child went nuts for a good set of swings. 

They’d lucked out, and she certainly didn’t seem distressed or depressed about her dad losing an arm and living by the skin of his teeth. A weird vacation with him as an afterthought is all Tony could have ever wanted. She was young still, if they got even luckier she’d hardly even remember him getting hurt. And with his kid laughing and his wife right there Tony Stark passed out like a cat on a sunny windowsill. 

“You know what they say, no pain no gain.” 

“Did you want to punch me this much when you started walking again? Don’t get me wrong you’re amazing but I’m ready to stick a fist in your face.” 

Rhodey laughed, and Tony tightened his grip on his shoulder. Not that it changed much, he’d only just gotten strong enough to support his own weight. “That goes away eventually.” 

“I’ll hold you to that.” Another shaky step. Tony leaned onto Rhodey as his weight passed from one foot to the other. The human walk never felt more like a controlled fall than in those moments, especially with his balance thrown off thanks to a missing limb. 

“I was trying to figure out why I was getting deja vu from this,” Rhodey said. He was always so good at that, just jumping right back into how things were right when Tony needed it the most. “Then I remembered all the times I had to hold up your sorry drunk ass in school and it all made sense.” 

“But now I can actually remember it to properly thank you later.” There was no denying it, he was much more stable on his left side. His physical therapist said it should come back with time and effort, but that hardly helped him out now. “And you know you can believe it since I’m not drunk and just happy to get back to bed.” 

“I don’t know, when we did this yesterday you were pretty damn happy to get off your feet again.” 

He’d been caught. “Who hurt you, Rhodey? Who hurt you to make you hurt me?” One more step, and he reached the far side of his room. He knew every step made the next one take less out of him but it certainly didn’t feel like it. 

“You, probably.” Rhodey helped him turn around, and the next step Tony took was with nearly no support. A small victory. “How’re the latest drafts of that arm looking? Decide on a paint job yet?” 

“Kid’s handling neural interfacing, we’re modding nanotech for the bulk of it.” He’d been having way too much fun working on that with Shuri. A trade of ideas and enthusiasm for experience never hurt anyone. “Static form, but she’s real excited about using the nanotech idea to make it change colors on the fly. Nanite of one color expands, others contract, that kind of thing.” 

“Isn’t that how octopi do it?” A pause. “Octopuses?” 

“Both are technically correct.” They’d gone on that tangent a lot. “Won’t need to choose between blending in and being flashy. Compromise of the century.” 

“I was about to say, you’re too proud of yourself to not let that thing come in red and gold.” 

“Count on it. Color preset option number one.” There was never any doubt with that. 

Not three days later, he went home. A month out of the country in the hospital, and the last few weeks of recovery before another surgery were much better spent on a familiar bed. The first full day back, however, was far from as relaxing as he’d hoped. A few loose ends to tie up first, then maybe they could start moving on. 

Clint Francis Barton gave a beautiful speech. Tony would have attempted to do the same, if he had any way with words at all. Fury was shockingly open in his, gushing compliments and prattling on about all the years they’d worked together. They decided on the compound, what was left of it anyway, with party tents set up and dozens of chairs. More of those chairs were full than she ever could have hoped for. What a crazy, messed up, disaster of a family to have. Tony had never been much of a crier.  
Then he had a kid. 

A kid who didn’t get nearly enough chances to get to know Natasha. She’d heard the stories of course, sometimes right from the horse’s mouth when Romanoff came over for lunch once in a blue moon, but it wasn’t what either of them deserved. He couldn’t imagine how the Barton kids were taking this, waking up and on top of everything else Auntie Nat was gone. 

The service flew by, and everyone broke into groups to chat and reminisce. Tony found the other four blessedly quickly, walking still wasn’t easy, and chairs got pulled into a circle. Six, they left one open for her. Clint went on about how he met her, Tony had never heard the unabridged story before, and he got to thinking Barton was the best judge of character of them all. Thor passed on his stories of Valhalla, how there is no finer death than that of a warrior and Romanoff was sure to have a seat at their tables. 

All Bruce hoped for was that in the end she knew she was a good person, Steve said she knew. Tony insisted she was laughing at them, wherever she was, getting all worked up over her. She’d have called them out on that, wondering where this emotional sincerity had been the past decade. As the sky darkened and the string lights in the tents went on, they had a toast to their sister in arms. Tony raised his glass of water to meet everyone else’s, and the talking continued for hours more. They watched the sun set on a grateful universe. 


	3. Chapter 3

It was hard to be miserable at home. Medication still only dampened the pain but looking around to framed pictures of friends and family instead of sterile medical equipment made it much more bearable. His discharge orders had been very strict; rest, relax, and build up strength for a recheck in two weeks. The recheck for his new hardware.

He’d seen the specs, worked on it whenever he could, and the prototypes looked fantastic. The plan was a solid one, a few small implants in his back to transfer nerve signals into something the new arm could understand, and a solid mount at the end of the stump. Detachable, he’d insisted on that. Made too much sense to skip on that. Shuri made a call to him nearly daily with progress and ideas, though she had a terrible habit of timing it right before he went to bed for the night. Time zones were clearly conspiring to keep him out of the loop.

And he’d been sleeping a lot, lately. Tony’d been told about how he’d be short on energy for the foreseeable future, maybe forever, but a solid night’s sleep plus naps almost felt excessive. It’d trapped Pepper at home with him, not that she would have left anyway. Basic tasks could turn into a trial between the missing arm and the pain, and she was always around to help. Scratch that itch he couldn’t anymore, grab water or a snack, she really was doing her best to let him spend time relaxing on the couch.

Which amounted to making the night he couldn’t sleep that much more concerning.

It took a lot of staring at the ceiling to realize what was keeping him awake. Just a couple questions he needed answers to. Tony checked his phone and squinted against the light, careful to aim it away from Pepper. Almost one-thirty in the morning. And another email from Harley, he swore that kid never slept, but it was good to be hearing from him too after five years. He really should invite the kid out to his place sometime.

Tony pushed himself out of bed, holding back a groan at the effort, and kept a hand on the headboard for a moment while he regained stability. One foot in front of the other, downstairs, to the sink for a glass of water, then another set of stairs to the shop. He planted himself on the couch with a sigh and caught his breath, no way he could keep up with a four-year-old now. “You awake, FRIDAY?”

“Twenty-four seven, Boss.”

He rubbed his shoulder with his hand, it helped mitigate the pain somewhat. “What footage do you have from that fight at the compound?”

“I’ll pull it up for you.” First-person views from the battle popped up on a projection screen nearby. The calvary arriving, literally for the one on the horse, the hug with Pete, _finally_ fighting side-by-side with his wife, it filled in a lot of gaps. Then the close quarters with Thanos. Grabbing the stones as easy as picking up fruit on a grocery run. Here came the one liner.

Except it didn’t.

The footage clipped. Frames of one thing, then another. Garbled audio if it was there at all. A few frames of Thanos turning to dust, then the screen displayed a read error. “Where’s the rest of it?”

“Corrupted. I can try to restore it?”

“Thank you, no, that’s fine.” Tony leaned back, he hadn’t even realized he’d been on the edge of his seat watching that. “Play War Machine’s for me.”

“You got it. Boss.” Same story, different point of view. The fight as normal as seen by Rhodey’s eyes, but with some goons disappearing like dust off old hardware instead of the big guy himself. Rhodey turned to where Tony was, and before he could get a look the errors resumed.

Tony sighed in frustration instead of exhaustion this time. “Rescue?” Again, footage only existed for moments after the snap.

“I’m sorry Boss, the radiation from using the stones interrupted data transfer. It’s all corrupted.”

“How is it all gone?” He knew the answer, and FRIDAY knew he did too since she didn’t answer. “There were backups in place.” The energy was enough to turn his hand to ash it could interrupt a glorified wifi signal easily. “Run a restore protocol, if it’s not going to stress you out.”

“Just when I was looking for something to do. Consider it done.”

“You’re the best,” Tony said as he got back to his feet. “Guess I should get back to bed. FRI?”

“Yes Boss?”

“Have a nice rest of your night.”

“I always do.”

 

The hardest ‘New Normal’ conversation to have was with Morgan. She was a clever kid, sure, but a clever kid is still a kid and expecting them to understand everything was never fair. Tony explained daddy wouldn’t be able to play rough anymore. He was already getting up in age, keeping up with a kid that young was already hard but now it was next to impossible. It created some opportunities, though. They got creative with low stress games, and Pepper facilitated as much as she could. Lang even got a few calls for ideas, Tony had to admit the cardboard adventures he’d made were pretty damn impressive.

Tony slept more. A lot more, like he was catching up on a decade of insomnia, which left him worried he’d miss out on quality Morgan time napping on the couch. They’d worked that out easily enough, she was completely free to wake him up whenever she wanted. He said it and confirmed it over and over again until it was made clear. There really wasn’t much better than being gently woken up from a nap on the couch to a kid asking to play, put a smile on his face every time.

The second hardest conversation was with Peter.

Him and May came over for lunch, which was already astounding in itself. He really had missed that kid, more than he thought now that he was back. Just like they’d rehearsed, Pepper had a lead-in the moment his health was brought up. “The prognosis is better than we could have hoped for, but it’ll take some adjusting.”

“I have to retire.” A pause as Tony gathered his mental strength. “From all the Iron Man stuff. Can’t swing it anymore. Heart’s not in great shape I do anything that gets it moving too fast and it could just quit on me.” Peter’s face dropped as he processed this, while May nodded like she’d assumed this already. “A rollercoaster could kill me, let alone flying around shooting lasers at stuff. I’d be a liability out there.”

Yet again, he’d brought that kid to the edge of tears. Damn it. Pete’s face hopped around the stages of grief before the waterworks actually started. “No, no you- What if I screw something up or I need backup again? You’ve always been there how am I supposed to-?”

“Hey. Come on now. What I don’t remember from that fight I saw footage of and you kicked ass. Seriously. Sure, you’re still learning, but everyone is don’t listen to anyone who tells you otherwise.” Tony paused to assess the almost crying situation. “Looks like you’ve just got to keep me safe now, kid. If anyone can manage that it’s you.”

May rubbed her nephew’s shoulder, which just about did the trick for him. “Come on, you just got Tony _freaking_ Stark’s approval. That’s got to be, like, the best compliment you can get in superhero-ing.”

“Don’t push it, that’ll go to my head.”

“It will,” Pepper confirmed.

The most fragile smile crossed Peter’s lips. “I’ll try not to bother you too much Mr. Stark. Thank you.”

Tony didn’t have the heart to tell the kid he was the straw that broke the camel’s back with the whole Time Heist thing. Wasn’t the time or place. He saw too much of himself in that guy anyway, he’d probably find a way to blame Tony’s injuries on himself and no kid needed that baggage even if it was fake.

 

Rain threatened the afternoon, even without the clouds in the distance he could tell from the ache in his stump. It itched, it still hurt, and up until then he totally thought the weather caused aches were a thing movies made up. Tony’d spent the morning cleaning up metaphorical messes, since Pepper refused to allow him to handle the physical ones.

His post mortem protocols had been activated. All of them. Turned out his heart stopped for long enough for FRIDAY to release the files, and Tony never bothered to clean that out. Pepper, Rhodey, and Happy received videos from back in 2010, when he’d had a fun case of heavy metal poisoning. His one for Pepper ended with him confessing to her, he viscerally remembered admitting he loved her before turning the camera off. Emails were sent, many company-wide, and Pepper was sent the recording he’d made before heading out to the Time Heist. 

Despite his warnings, she’d watched them both of course. He’d been downstairs napping on the couch at the time and she admitted to crying even with him alive and well a few rooms over.

A box had been mailed to one Nick Fury, Tony wasn’t sure he’d have any luck getting that back. It was acceptable, at the end of the day. He wasn’t able to keep on Avenging and someone had to fill that gap, though he had some very strong guesses as to who that someone was. It was a damn shame, though, those were one of his favorite pairs of glasses.

Tony pushed himself up from the couch, stopped in a sit for a few moments to catch his breath, when a hand on his shoulder stopped that dead. “What can I get you?” Pepper asked.

Nothing. He was down an arm, not incapable of getting a glass of water by himself, but he was still newly home and she just wanted to help. It was hard to get mad at her, let alone find some way to stay mad. “Little bit of water, tap is fine. You sure you don’t need a hand cleaning up?”

“Rest means rest, Tony.” She rubbed his shoulder in that way he got lost in. “I can vacuum and pick up tables by myself for a while. Besides I recall you being just as adamant I relax while I was pregnant.”

That was totally different, she was bringing a life into the world then, he was just staying alive. He sighed. “Alright you get this round. How’s the kid?”

“Down for an unexpected nap,” Pepper said as she sat on the couch next to him. On his right, it made him sick for a moment. “Guess she was playing on her bed and she fell asleep with stuffed animals still in her hands.” Before Tony could ask for a picture, Pepper grabbed her phone like she read his mind.

Morgan really had fallen asleep mid-game. She was lying on her stomach, toys in each hand, and completely dead asleep. “Must have been a very important part she was at.”

 

Two days post-op, Tony Stark was hooking up his new hardware to a laptop. A hardpoint had been attached to his humerus, and what amounted to signal repeaters stuck onto the major nerves that head into the arm. Wiring the test plate was clumsy, he was used to another hand and all, but the connection was solid and he locked it onto what would eventually support the whole arm. “You good?” He asked with a look to Shuri.

The princess looked like she’d been trying to get a printer to cooperate for an afternoon. “Where’s the program on this thing? Your OS has never clicked with me I told you we should have just used my computer.”

“We’re attaching it to me, I should have primary access to the software. Bottom search bar, should be under ‘lend a hand.’” Tony paused, and though he wasn’t in a position to see the screen he saw Shuri tapping away at the keyboard. “I swear if you rename the file ‘Weird Flex’ I’m gonna scream.”

She pressed the backspace key with more anger than Tony thought possible. “And we’re loaded. Starting a calibration.” That started ten minutes of Shuri calling out motions to try and make, and his software recording just what fired and when. If all went well, it would learn what nerve impulses meant what and he wouldn’t have much adjusting to do with the new arm. The suit had been using predictive movement for years, this had been easy enough to modify.

Tony watched the progress bar move on the compilation while his project partner ran off to grab the finished arm. She returned with a gorgeous case, and when she cracked it open to reveal the prosthesis he had to give it a wolf whistle. Slick black, bit of gold inlay, and when he touched it with his flesh hand it had a very realistic texture to it.

Not perfect, that wasn’t possible just yet, but very very close.

Shuri freed Tony from the laptop and plugged his new arm in instead. “Now for the moment you’ve been waiting for.” She tapped a spot on the forearm, and a RGB slider displayed on the synthetic skin. As she dragged a finger around, the color changed in real time from red to orange to yellow to a remarkably well matching skin tone and she squealed in delight. “I started with a body color and two accents but that’s easily configurable, even for you.” Tony huffed a beat of a laugh, while Shuri looked at her handiwork and failed at suppressing a huge grin. “I reinvented paint.”

“Hell yeah you did.” Tony brought up the interface again and predictably turned his new arm to his signature red and gold. “Think we’ve done a pretty good job here.”

“Save that for when we get it hooked up to you.” Shuri pulled the cords out, Tony remembered her saying life was too short to safely eject hardware, and presented the arm to him.

The locking mechanism, a thin metal band at the end of the arm, was the only part that didn’t change color. Mostly so he could find the damn thing to disconnect it if needed. Prosthetic locked into place and changed back into his skin tone, the only visible differences were the band and lack of hair. Not bad, not bad at all. “Moment of truth,” Tony said, and after a deep breath went to move a finger.

He twitched his new thumb. Then index finger. Then the rest down the line.

The two put him through his paces, touching each finger to his thumb, wrist and elbow bends, rotation, everything worked.  
Within ten minutes of connection he was picking things up from the table with his right hand for the first time in over a month. It didn’t feel right, though. Tony knew getting his brain rewired for this to feel normal would take some time, thinking of that kept his outlook positive. Movement was there, sure, but it was clunky. Slow. Took effort to produce. Time would make it better, sure, but if it didn’t? There were worse things to be than a one-armed engineer.

 

Practice. He would only ever get better with practice. Tony knew this. But practicing still felt wrong and made him want to tear his hair out at times. He’d requested a little bit of alone time, but despite attempts to finally get Pepper out of the house without him for a while she stayed home. Unsurprising, he was still in pretty rough shape and he understood not wanting to leave him home on his own, so having an undisturbed afternoon in the shop would have to do.

He glared at the prosthetic on one of the desks in the basement, tried to intimidate a hunk of silicon and metal. Time and time again he’d been told he wouldn’t take to it immediately, he knew that, but he’d expected it to be at least a little easier right off the bat. With a huff Tony grabbed his imitation bicep, pulled it over to his shoulder, and attached the thing once again.

The itch in his right arm disappeared the instant the nerves hooked up. It was so subtle he hadn’t even realized it had crept up on him again, but he’d take that over screaming pain in a hand that was no longer there. Tony focused on his new hand, staring at his fingers as his fist opened and closed with all the fluidity of Dum-E attempting ballet.

Practice. He just needed more practice.

Tony spun his chair around and had to remember to relax his elbow to let the arm hang at his side. He squeezed what remained of his upper arm, that ache was very much still real. He had to pick a goal, that’s what all his notes were saying with this. Do something with that damned arm instead of running through exercise sets until the aliens came back. He decided on scratching the back of his neck, which seemed much easier before he got down to it.

Raise his arm, that was easy enough, he still had his shoulder. He tensed his elbow late, having forgot it would just flop over without any orders. Big stuff was in the right spot, good. Now for the hand. Tony used his good hand to check that the fake one was rotated the right way, then it was just finger movement. After a few rounds of focusing on his fingers moving in sync, he really focused on the feeling he had in that thing. Mostly just pressure, which was supposed to improve as his brain adjusted, but for now it was good enough to learn on. He stopped and lowered his arm. Least he relaxed the elbow at the right time. A successful itch scratch, maybe he’d be soldering again before 2050.

Barnes made this whole metal arm thing look easy, maybe he should call him for tips.

U whirred some encouragement, and Tony couldn’t just stop for the time being after something so nice. “You guys have this much trouble, huh?” He asked as he stood up and took a step towards half of his idiot robot duo. Tense the elbow. Wrist rotation. Those little finger joints were so finicky. With raised eyebrows, Tony imitated the pinching motion of their claws which earned him another enthusiastic whirr. “Not bad, huh? Am I in your club yet? Get let in on all the rumors you tell about me? Kidding,” He said as he lowered his arm. Slowly relaxed the elbow, let the fingers go back to a neutral position. “I know you guys don’t do that.”

Tony went back upstairs around four in the afternoon, and Morgan was right there for him with a hug. “You’re acting like I just spent a week in Vegas, I was just downstairs. Miss me that much?”

Morgan nodded as Tony knelt down to make the hug better. He really had missed giving her two-armed hugs, so far that was worth all the frustration. “Even when you’re right here I miss you.”

“That is something I have no idea how to fix,” Tony said as Morgan let go and he stood up. “What’s mom up to? I haven’t bugged her in hours I need to fix that.” He’d have carried her, but with that kind of lifting out of the question he’d have to make due with holding her hand as they walked.

 

“So you tap it twice right here,” Tony said as he lifted his fingers off of his synthetic wrist. “Then just slide down.”  
Morgan nodded in that exaggerated way kids did before following the instructions she was given. Tony felt two taps, fairly delicate coming from her, then the swipe. “Woah.”

He smiled as the color slider menu opened up with Morgan’s gasp. “Play around, have fun.” Another smile as a look of wonder lit up her face.

“Really?”

“Morgan Stark I would not lie to you about something this cool. Come on, pick some colors. You can make it as ugly as you want and I’ll still wear it proudly.” He wore the scars proudly too, least that’s what Pepper said. Tony considered that a bit of a stretch, but he would admit the spots where the suit’s circuitry burned their patterns into his neck, back, and chest were pretty damn cool. Morgan had settled on an almost painful shade of pink for the main color. “Go poke it right there to-” He lowered his hand and stopped talking when Mo poked the panel to change to an accent color with no instruction. “There you go.”

What a clever kid. Tony planted a kiss behind her ear and squeezed her closer on his lap. “What do you want it like?” She asked as she played her finger over the yellow to purple range, transfixed by the detail pieces on the arm changing in real time.

“Whatever creative vision you have this afternoon is perfect by me.” And it was, it really was. Wasn’t too surprising coming from a guy who had to start using the shop fridge to hang her art up.

After a few more seconds of deliberation, Morgan clasped her hands together and looked over her shoulder at her father. “Do you like it?”

Bright pink and yellow. “Real sunny, optimistic mood there.” He swiped away the panel and held his kid in both arms. “The people want to know, what was your inspiration for this radical design choice?”

She shrugged and wrapped her arms around Tony’s. “Dunno. They make me happy.”

“They make me want lemonade.” He released the hug and let Morgan hop off of his lap. “You too? Think we can arrange that? Do you accept payment for your art in sugary, juice-based drinks?”

Morgan grinned, grabbed Tony’s pink-and-yellow hand, and just about dragged him to the kitchen.

 

The tea bags were so far back in the cabinet Tony resigned himself to use a chair with a huff. “You still a Sleepytime Tea kinda guy?” He asked his guest in the living room as he pulled three packets out from the box.

“Tony I- I told you I liked that once ten years ago how do you even remember that?” Bruce had brought a, well, Bruce-sized mug and already filled it while Tony was climbing around his kitchen.

“Steel trap,” He said with a tap of his head, choosing to ignore all the times he’d forgotten breakfast thirty minutes later. Tony handed off the tea bags and watched in awe as Banner prepared them with a delicacy he never would have expected from such big hands. “So, how’d it go? No hiccups? Every hiccup? I’m all ears big guy.”

Bruce shrugged with his good arm as he followed Tony back to the living room. “Little of both, really. We all called it he didn’t come back.”

“Figured,” Tony said as he fell into his chair, while Bruce took a careful seat on the couch. “We should have sent backup.”  
“But he insisted.” Banner stared into his mug like it held the answers. “But he’s not cutting us off. And he says he’s happy. And the stones are back and this reality hasn’t disintegrated yet so I don’t think I can complain.”

“How does that even work? We were operating under the thought we’d be in and out and change as little as possible as fast as possible. This is, it’s the exact opposite.” Yet another thing there was no point worrying about; it happened and there was no changing it. “That’s done _something_ and you know it.”

Bruce nodded. “I’m trying to avoid thinking about it. Passed the shield to Willson, says he’s still up for your vow renewal which I can’t wait for how’s the planning going?”

“Dusted off all the old plans from before the world went to shit.” The actual wedding had been a rather subdued affair, considering half the universe stopped existing a few months prior. Only reason they had a ceremony was Pepper said she’d lose it if she didn’t get to wear the dress she’d bought. Seeing her in it he had to agree with her. “The dress still fits, reception venue’s booked, takes the edge off Mo being upset she wasn’t there for the first one.”

“Where are they anyway?” Bruce looked around the room like it would somehow make them appear.

“Park trip for Morgan, Pep doesn’t trust me on my own at home yet so she only takes off when I have company over.” He couldn’t blame her, not completely. Being doted on was a little nice, and if something went really wrong having someone around would make a giant difference, but he was more than capable of doing housework again. “Nice having some one-on-one time with people, I admit.” That was a lie he missed them almost constantly.

Bruce smiled, and Tony realized he was too. “Can I back up a moment? You’re with me on what to do with the whole time travel setup, right?”

“Deep six it, destroy it. Melt the hardware, shred the hard drives, wipe the data.” He considered a joke about giving him another concussion so he couldn’t figure it out again, but figured that was in poor taste all things considered. “This is dangerous in the _right_ hands kinda stuff. No evidence, no temptation, none of it.”

“Not sure what I would have done if you didn’t agree with me.” A few seconds of silence filled the air. “Tony, I don’t want to be rude, but it’s been bugging me all day and I have to ask,” Bruce said, and Tony held his breath. This was going to be about missing the arm or the scars or some other equally terrible elephant in the room. “Why is your prosthetic covered in dinosaur stickers?”

Tony felt pressure release from his chest he didn’t even know he was dealing with. “Morgan wanted to make it prettier.”

 

“What do you think they’re talking about?” Tony asked from his chair on the deck, hardly sparing a glance to his company.  
“Weird teenage boy stuff, probably,” Happy chimed in. They were both watching Harley and Peter idly toss a ball around the yard while they chatted, with Morgan running back and forth between the two of them like a dog in a farfetched attempt to intercept a throw.

“God that kid got tall.”

“I know. You know how I know?” Happy asked, but gave Tony no time to answer. “Because you’ve said that about every two minutes since he got here.”

“But it’s true. Can you imagine if they hadn’t been, what are the kids calling it? Blipped? Twenty somethings? They’d tower over the trees.” A hand on his shoulder caused Tony to look up. “Mail? In this day and age? For me?”

“Us,” Pepper said as she sat down. “Couple more RSVPs coming in. Mostly people from offworld, guessing someone made a trip to make sure we knew they were coming. Danvers, Nebula, Thor and Quill’s group. And Fury and Hill.”

In the same batch? What a weird coincidence. “We could have just had everyone call in, you know.”

“Come on, doesn’t it feel better getting them mailed in? More official?”

“Alright, you got me there.” Really he was happy to do whatever Pepper wanted, especially when they had another chance to do this with everyone in attendance. She planted a kiss on his cheek and Tony caught Happy try to cover up a smile. When she pulled away Tony pretended to not notice her quickly swap his arm over to color preset one, a faithful recreation of his last armor model.

“I leave for five minutes on a bathroom break,” Tony’d started to wonder where Rhodey ran off to, “And you two are smooching?” He took a fourth chair on the deck. “I know we’re at your place but come on show some discipline here, what would the kids think?” He didn’t give Tony time to think. “Okay so where were we?”

“The clown story from college,” Tony said. “Right at the point where the kid showed up in the bathrobe. How have we never told you two this one?”

“Beats me,” Pepper said as Happy shrugged. “But I’m on the edge of my seat here.”

As he watched Rhodey handle this part of the story, Tony caught a glimpse of Peter look away as he got distracted by something and still flawlessly catch Harley’s throw and toss it back. Alright, that was pretty cool, and the other two seemed to agree by the yelling he heard from across the yard. That kid was going places, and Tony couldn’t wait to see more of it.

“Now everyone’s a few drinks in and I tell Tony I haven’t seen bathrobe guy in a while,” Rhodey said with that stern look on his face. “And right on cue this guy walks back right into the living room.”

“Doesn’t miss a beat, just drops the robe,” Tony said. “We all expected a naked guy but the metaphorical dust settled and there’s this college kid in a hideous clown getup he just revealed to us all. Goes right back to doing shots after.”

“There is no way that’s true,” Pepper said with raised eyebrows. “Out of all the things why a clown?”

Tony held up his hands in defense, only getting the smallest twinge of shoulder pain. “Scout’s honor, I swear. Said nothing, left the bathrobe. Never saw him again.”

“See that screams fake to me.”

Rhodey almost laughed. “Pepper, he already married you, he’s got no reason to make up stories now that’s as true as it gets.”


End file.
